Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 November 11

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November 11

Something wrong here?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Muhammad/FAQ in a2, it seems to imply Wikipedia offends everyone equally ;-} —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.229.182.66 (talk) 00:24, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Are you referring to: "There is content that is equally offensive to other religionists". wiktionary:religionist says: "a religious zealot". It doesn't say everyone, and it only mentions religionists although many things are offensive to some readers for non-religious reasons. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:51, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

(e/c) Nothing's wrong there. The point is that Wikipedia doesn't single out Islam, but contains images and content that various groups may find offensive and it cannot remain a neutral encyclopedia while bowing to the sensitivities of every group's predilections.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:53, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Proposal to add Feedback to the list of places to ask questions

I've noticed that since the creation of the Article Wizard, the Feedback page quickly becomes backlogged. While I've posted requests for help a couple times, it occurs to me that people looking for places to help might not automatically think about that page, as it isn't listed under "Where to ask Questions". I'm contemplating adding it to the list, but want to see if there are good reasons not to do so. I don't think this addition alone will solve the problem, but it might be a start. While this might drive more question asking traffic there, I'm hoping it will also remind editors willing to help that they should check that page out.--SPhilbrickT 00:54, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

It's not really a place to "ask questions" though, unlike the help desk or reference desks. The help desk doesn't get many requests for feedback on articles that we need to redirect to WP:FEED, so I don't think many people coming here are looking for that kind of thing. Most of the requests there seem to come from new editors, so I'd suggest providing a link to it from places like Wikipedia:How to edit a page, Wikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors, Wikipedia:Your first article etc, which might be more useful. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 01:45, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Arghh, my bad, I thought I was on the Talk page of the Help page. Actually, I know I was, but I had too many windows open and posted this to the wrong place. Never mind.--SPhilbrickT 02:19, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Signature help

How do I prevent the hyphen in my signature from wrapping? Sometimes if my signature appears at the very end of a line, the first half will stay on line one, with the text after the hyphen wrapping to the second line. I'm a coding moron. <>Multi-Xfer<> (talk) 02:47, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Though I'm sure there is a more elegant solution, using a hard space before the hyphen will cause the entire signature to wrap to the next line. Xenon54 / talk / 02:53, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

You can replace the hyphen by a non-breaking hyphen by copying '‑' or coding ‑ PrimeHunter (talk) 03:15, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Awesome, thanx guys! <>Multi-Xfer<> (talk) 06:09, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Wikiproject Geographical Coordinates

I'm trying to figure out how to join the above project but can't. I've been to it's page but can find no option to join. It says sign up to participate and shows a list of participants but I can find no option to join anywhere. Can someone tell me how to join a project? Thx! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Diaboyos (talk • contribs) 02:56, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Just add your name to the list ! Wikiprojects are open to anyone, and you just have to say "I'm in" to be a participant of the wikiproject. Cenarium (talk) 03:01, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Just click edit at Wikipedia:WikiProject Geographical coordinates#Participants and add yourself. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:04, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Ah I was thinking there was some official way to join. I never thought to just edit the page and add myself. Thx! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Diaboyos (talk • contribs) 03:08, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Feedback page for the help desk

Resolved

 – NFA required. – ukexpat (talk) 17:30, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

See at the talk page. Cenarium (talk) 03:05, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Just to note, this is not a help desk question, and it does not need any work. Mr. Prez (talk) 13:54, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

historical photographs

How do I add a photograph to an already existing Wikipedia article? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.176.7.3 (talk) 03:18, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

• If you want to add an existing image to an article, add [[Image:File name.jpg|thumb|Caption text.]] to the area of the article where you want the image to appear – replacing File name.jpg with the actual file name of the image, and Caption text with a short description of the image. See our picture tutorial for more information.
• If you want to upload an image from your computer for use in an article, you must find out what the proper license of the image is. If you know the image is licensed under a free-license, upload it to the Wikimedia Commons instead of here, so that all projects have access to the image (sign up). If you are unsure what license the image takes, see the file upload wizard for more information. Please also read Wikipedia's image use policy. I hope this helps.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:57, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Underlining links quit working

I have underlining of links set, but it quit working. I checked, and it is set. Some of my settings seem to have changed too. Is there a problem with the linking? Bubba73 ^{(the argument clinic)}, 05:25, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

I've tried it on two computers in both IE and Firefox - all have the same problem. Bubba73 ^{(the argument clinic)}, 06:46, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Now all of a sudden it is working again and I didn't change anything. Bubba73 ^{(the argument clinic)}, 07:12, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

The new banner (Wikipedia Forever) caused this problem, its been fixed on everything except Firefox. If you go to Prefrences> Gadgets > tick Suppress display of the fundraiser banner. that should (fingers crossed) fix the problem. Spitfire^Tally-ho! 09:24, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

There are two Tom Healy's but the search goes to only one of them

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 17:29, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

I created a page for Tom Healy, the poet. When one searches Tom Healy, it goes to an obscure sports person. How can I make it so that when one types "Tom Healy" it allows a choice by the user on which profile they want to see.

Please get back to me, or fix it yourself, if you can. I'd like to know how. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vcczar (talk • contribs) 05:32, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

 Done I've moved the athlete to Tom Healy (athlete), and turned Tom Healy into a disambig page. Spitfire^Tally-ho! 09:30, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

PS: I need to go out now, but I'll fix the "what links here" in about an hour, Spitfire^Tally-ho! 09:33, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

How can I suppress site banners?

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 17:28, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

I remember last year seeing an option that permitted registered users to suppress site banners at the top of pages. I had a look at the user preferences, but I could not find anything relevant to it. Is there a way to completely suppress these banners -- even remove the narrow tag that remains after one selects "Hide"? Some of us aren't interested in participating this year to any degree. -- llywrch (talk) 05:42, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

I think it is "My preferences", then "Gadgets" and then under first section "Suppress fundraising banner". Bielle (talk)

Yep, it works. Bielle (talk) 05:58, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Great. Thanks. -- llywrch (talk) 06:46, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Another way to do it is to add #siteNotice {display:none} to your monobook.css file. Btilm 03:05, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Adding a photo

I have attempted to add a photo of Brian Carbury (ww2) fighter ace, it doesn't want to let me. Am I doing anything wrong? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jeremy Graves (talk • contribs) 10:52, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Before you can upload an image you must become auto confirmed, you become auto confirmed when your account is four days old and you have made at least 10 edits. Alternatively you can request to become confirmed at Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Confirmed, if you need help with this request just ask me below, all the best Spitfire^Tally-ho! 11:52, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Need help for moving page

Hi little helper,

let me fist explain the situation how I found it: There is an article United Airways (Bangladesh) an an disambig-page United Airways, which also links to United Airways (United Kingdom). The latter was just created by me. The British Airline ceased operation in 1935, so the vast majority of sources about United Airways refer to the Bangladeshi airline. So here comes my intention (same was done with Midwest Airlines or Ryanair): Clear the disambig page, add an "for...see" header to the Bangladeshi Airline (already done), and move this article to United Airways. Who can help me doing so, because I can't move it that easily because the aiming page already exists. Cheers, Per aspera ad Astra (talk) 11:53, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Alright, I've tagged the page United Airways for deletion with {{db-g6}}, once it has been deleted it will be possible to move United Airways (Bangladesh) to United Airways. It might take a while for the page to get deleted though. If this is not what you want to happen then please just say, Spitfire^Tally-ho! 12:02, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

United Airways (Bangladesh) started in 2005 and only has 2 planes according to the article. Their site at http://www.uabdl.com/ currently says "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded. The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit". This looks like a tiny operation with probably few people searching for it. I have moved it to the top of United Airways and added 3 more easily confused entries. I'm not sure the Bangladesh airline should be the primary topic. {{Db-move}} would have been the correct template to request speedy deletion. I see you explained the cause in the edit summary instead. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:24, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

The suggested move doesn't look uncontroversial to me so I have declined speedy deletion. Wikipedia:Requested moves can be tried instead. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:40, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, actually, I beat you to it by a couple of minutes [1] Spitfire^Tally-ho! 19:50, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

So you did. Then my following edit summary [2] made no sense. I didn't get an edit conflict because we removed exactly the same at the top, and my edit was not an unregistered null edit because I made a change in another place. By the way, the major American United Airlines has sued [3] the new Bangladesh United Airways over the similar name. The top Google hit on "United Airways" is United Airlines! I wonder whether they used SEO tricks. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:32, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

A little privacy

Can I obtain enough privacy so I can discuss the proposed changes. I have included material from other printed publications and would not want them changed.

--Irvdiamond (talk) 12:26, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Can you clarify: which proposed changes do you want to discuss? Wikipedia is a very public forum, so it's not a good place to try to conduct private conversations. I'm also not sure what you mean by the sentence "I have included material from other printed publications and would not want them changed" - everything you submit to Wikipedia is subject to editing and redistribution by others, under our terms of use, so again it's not a good place to put material that you don't want changed. If you tell us what material and what changes you're concerned about, we can help you better. Gonzonoir (talk) 12:46, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Please also see Wikipedia:Ownership of articles, and note what it says on the bottom of every page when you are editing "If you do not want your writing to be edited, used, and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here."--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:52, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Presuming you are talking about Gustaf Nordenskiöld: the place to discuss edits to that article is at Talk:Gustaf Nordenskiöld; and no, it is not private; that isn't how we work. --Orange Mike | Talk 14:03, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Colored borders

I've noticed that on some userpages, in the section where the user tells about themself, that they have created a border around the edge of the information they put there. How is this done? Mr. Prez (talk) 14:16, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Borders are made by putting something in a table which may only have one cell. Click "edit this page" to see the code used to produce a given page. Some of the code may be transcluded from other pages listed at the bottom of the edit window. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:32, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Actually, using tables for this task is a somewhat outdated solution. Instead, you should enclose the text in <div> tags and set the borders (and other things, such as background colour, if desired) using CSS. For example:

<div style="background-color: AliceBlue; border: 2px solid LightSlateGray; padding: 5px;">
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. ...
</div>

Produces:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Hope that helps. AJCham 16:48, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. Mr. Prez (talk) 11:28, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

I forgot my username!

I created an account a long time ago and I can't remember the username for it. I have never edited anything before and all I know is that the account should be attached to either [email removed] or [email removed] and it could possibly have the name 'Lucas' in it. Help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 218.186.13.247 (talk) 14:21, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Usernames cannot be found from email addresses. You can try to find the name at Special:Listusers. Otherwise it is OK to create a new account. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:29, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

• If you never edited with it, just abandon it and create a new account!

For anyone else reading this question, who have forgotten their user name but who did edit with it, go to the history of an article that you know you edited and look through the contributions - your user name will be there! If you've forgotten your password as well, once you know your user name you can request a new password to be sent to you. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 14:59, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

• • And to show another side of the coin of what Phantomsteve says above, if you look at any page you edited long ago and recognize unique language you added to the article, instead of scrolling through the page history if there are many intervening edits, you can use a tool like Wikiblame to find the edit revision that added that language to the article, which will thus find your account.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:49, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Translating text from other Wikipedias

Hi, I want to expand some articles from the Englisch Wikipedia by translated text from the German Wikipedia. How shall I note this in the References section? Per aspera ad Astra (talk) 16:06, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Template:Translated page on the talk page of the English page. Ks0stm ^(T•C•G) 16:09, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick answer, couldn't find the template. Now I have another problem: The article I want to translate is [4] about a German forrest nature reserve. Problem is, that the English Wikipedia already has an article of that name: Schorfheide, which refers to a municipality of the same name. This article does also exist in the German Wikipedia: [5], but there as Schorfheide (municipality). In German language usage, the term "Schorfheide" is nearly alsways used for the landscape, the municipality is hardly known at all. How shall I handle this in the English Wikipedia? Per aspera ad Astra (talk) 16:18, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

I would create a new article Schorfheide (forest) or something similar, and then list that article on the disambiguation page Schorfheide. --Bfigura ^(talk) 16:21, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

(EC) Hmm...I would move Schorfheide to Schorfheide (municipality), make Schorfheide a Disambiguation page, and create something like Schorfheide (forest) from the translation. Ks0stm ^(T•C•G) 16:24, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

help in a Wikipedia cleanup

(1) A few decades ago, I see parts of a video by a Japanese artist called Ippu Do on a TV show. He does a long music video that includes a cover of the Zombies Time of the Season.
(2) Personal disclosure: I really like the video.
(3) I search on the internet, I eventually get the spelling right, and find it on Google videos [http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=2122373711203638867&ei=TOX6SpLSLIW0qwKOw_1v&q=cosmic+cycle&hl=en&view=2# ]
Indeed, it's even on Youtube [6]
(4) I search Ippu Do on Wikipedia and get this [7]
(5) I click Buck-Tick
(6) The article says "Masami Tsuchiya (formerly of Ippu-do),"
(7) When I click that it re-directs to Aleph (religion) with nothing about Ippu Do. Ditto the discussion of the page that's been redirected, nor on the Aleph (religion) page.
(8) I put in "Masami Tsuchiya" "Ippu-do" in Google and get 559 hits. [8]
(9) I put in "Masami Tsuchiya" "Ippu-do" "Aleph" in Google and get 3 hits. [9]
(10) Time of the Season makes no mention of him, Season of Love (song) refers to another Japanese artist.
(11) What do you all recommend?
Thanks for any help.Civic Cat (talk) 17:03, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Masami Tsuchiya redirects to Aleph because he is considered one of the leaders of the movement. I wonder if it is the same person? The Masami Tsuchiya of Aleph is 44 right now. This age is possible if your "decades ago" is no more than two. Unfortunately the editor that created the redirect, Tyciol, has been banned, so contacting the editor isn't possible. --SPhilbrickT 17:54, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Hmmm, upon further reading, it turns out that this was in the same group that was involved in the gas attack. The video came out in 1981, I believe, so if he's 44 now, he was 16 then, and he looks older than that in the video (sings older too). Looks like I might have to put a lot of posts in the discussion pages.Civic Cat (talk) 18:19, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Ah, here's an page that seems to shed some light.
http://lifeintokyo.net/familytree_tsuchiya.html
"Not to be confused with the Aum Shinrikyo scientist Masami Tsuchiya, who was sentenced to death for his involvement in the 1995 Sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway, this Masami Tsuchiya is much more happy to walk around in space-age stewardess outfits and unleash face melting guitar solos on the unsuspecting public 1."Civic Cat (talk) 18:30, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

It seems that their is a Japanese Wikipedia page about him, that some what corrosponds to the second page.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%80%E9%A2%A8%E5%A0%82_(%E3%83%90%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89)
http://park10.wakwak.com/~techno/ippudo.html
I might do an interwiki link.Civic Cat (talk) 18:39, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

I went to a Help-Desk-of-sorts in the Japanese Wikipedia here:
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Help_for_Non-Japanese_Speakers/FAQ
Civic Cat (talk) 19:28, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Creating a biography

How do i post a new biography about someone pls?—Preceding unsigned comment added by Kamal-din (talk • contribs)

A Wizard is available to walk you through these steps. See the Article Wizard.

Thank you.

Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines with which all articles should comply. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article. You might also look at Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. An Article Wizard is available to walk you through creating an article. – ukexpat (talk) 18:22, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Wikia

Can links to Wikia projects be included in External links, and is there a template that would facilitate it? Mjpresson (talk) 19:49, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, it could just be linked like any other external source: eg. [http://wikiaexample.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page], no need for a template. However, links to wikia projects are almost bound to fail WP:EL#Links normally to be avoided, 12: Links to open wikis, except those with a substantial history of stability and a substantial number of editors., Kind regards Spitfire^Tally-ho! 19:56, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

There is a template - {{Wikia}} - so I guess they are OK as ELs assuming they don't infringe WP:ELNO. – ukexpat (talk) 19:56, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

changed email address

I no longer use aol which was my email to register. I just tried to log in and had password sent to me but I have have changed email services and have not gotten the new password. What do I do. When I try to register as a new user I get the message that the name I am using is already in use.

24.176.250.4 (talk) 20:03, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm afraid you'll have to register a new account. The reason you're getting the "name in use" message is because the account name you are trying to register as has already been registered by someone else. If you need any further help please ask, kind regards, Spitfire^Tally-ho! 20:10, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

line #'s

Is there any way to quickly locate edits by their line numbers? If no why are they there? Ps: I know you can click the arrow by the edit in the diffs page.Accdude92 (talk to me!) (sign) 20:35, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

As far as I know, there is no way to actually use the line numbers! As to why they are there - they are useful if there are changes in several different blocks of the article, to show that there are gaps between the changes shown. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 21:58, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

If you are looking for when specific information was edited; Take a look at wikiblame. Its a system that lets you search revisions. It is a bit tricky to use though. Tim1357 (talk) 00:07, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

MedBib.com?

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 21:03, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

I found a website that is taking all Wikipedia articles and putting them on their website. It's called http://www.medbib.com and if you go to www.medbib.com/Article on Wikipedia, on Wikipedia, you will find the current version of that Wikipedia article there. It even has user accounts, such as mine. Does Wikipedia allow for this to happen? Eagles 24/7 (C) 22:17, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Nevermind, it has already been reported here. Eagles 24/7 (C) 22:20, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

12 hour time

Is there a tool that will display 12 hour time instead of 24 hour time? Btilm 22:47, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Not that I know of. 24 hour time is just better, and it is used in a lot more places than 12 hour time is. Xenon54 / talk / 23:16, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

P.S. Display where ? —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 23:17, 11 November 2009 <----here Buzzzsherman (talk) 23:21, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Help new user

PLease help me with my citation problem and to upload an image--Egyptiancotton (talk) 23:25, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

hello try adding at the bottom {{reflist}} ..it will make the reference list appear ....

To upload an image: go to the upload page and follow the directions from there. Tim1357 (talk) 00:02, 12 November 2009 (UTC)